Across The Fence: Charles Badger Clark

Charles Badger Clark Jr. was born on the first day of January 1883, the youngest of four children born to Charles Badger Clark Sr. and Mary Ellen Cleaver. Charles Sr. had joined the 25th Iowa Infantry at the outbreak of the Civil War and was seriously wounded at Vicksburg. After his discharge from the service, Charles entered Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant and began his Methodist ministry in 1864. Charles Badger Clark Sr. and Mary Ellen were married in Mount Pleasant, Iowa in 1865. Mrs. Clark was the perfect preachers wife and supported Reverend Clark's ministry while tending his home and raising their children. The Reverend and Mrs. Clark remained in Mount Pleasant until the lure of the frontier called them to Dakota Territory, near the settlement of Mitchell, in 1883.

Reverend Clark's efforts at homesteading proved to be more strenuous than anticipated and the old war injuries were a detriment to his health. However, his two older sons, 15-year-old Harry and 11-year-old Fred, along with their pioneer mother helped to lighten his burden and restore him to good health. For two years the family worked to prove up their claim and when the Reverend was able he was given the pastorate in Mitchell Methodist church. The family lived there for many years and Reverend Clark was instrumental in establishing the Dakota Wesleyan University.

In later years, Badger Clark Jr. related the story that had been often told to him by his mother, Mary Ellen. Young Charles was but a few months old in 1883 when the family moved to Dakota Territory. In the late spring of that first year Reverend Clark and the two older boys were out helping neighbors fight one of the all too frequent prairie fires that plagued the plains. A sudden shift in the wind and the fire changed directions, heading straight for the Clark homestead. With the Reverend and her two boys gone, Mrs. Clark propped baby Charles against the house where she could see him through the rolling smoke while she hitched the workhorse to a light plough and cut a firebreak around the buildings. The menfolk arrived just in time to help beat back the flames and save the homestead.

In 1893 the Clark's moved from Mitchell to Huron, South Dakota where they stayed for nearly five years. While in Huron, the second oldest son, Fred, died in 1894 of the tuberculosis that had plagued him for several years. Mary Ellen was also diagnosed with tuberculosis and in 1898 the Clark's moved to Deadwood in hopes that the higher altitude might lessen her suffering. Unfortunately, in less than a year Mary Ellen was dead. The oldest son, twenty-five year old Harry, was no longer at home and so young Charles and his father, Reverend Clark, were sudden bachelors in the wild west boomtown of Deadwood.

At fifteen years old young Charles must have felt quite overwhelmed by the bawdy goings-on in Deadwood. Two churches, one of them being his fathers, that was open for two-short hours a week could hardly compete with the 24 hour a day debauchery of dozens of saloons, dance halls and so-called "parlors." Although Charles Jr. spent little time in the streets of Deadwood, preferring the surrounding hills and forests, he no doubt was influenced by what he saw there. It is quite likely that his exposure, despite the infrequency, to the disgusting antics of those who staggered, stumbled and wallowed in drunken stupors, accounted for his personal resolve to never drink. Of course it must also be noted that his mother was a staunch advocate for strict temperance to the point of complete abstinence. It is said that Charles Badger Clark Jr. never drank nor ever saw the need to reduce his vocabulary to the more base four-letter words.

Reverend Clark was a powerful speaker and a most persuasive preacher. It is said that his sermons were the kind that made everyone who heard them feel sorry for any bad thing they had ever done. And yet Reverend Clark was far more compassionate than judgmental. Because of this Reverend Clark was often sought out to conduct funerals for the un-churched citizenry of Deadwood. An act which often required the deceased's deeds to be covered by what the local newspapers described as "the broad mantle of charity."

Such was the case in one of the most famous funerals ever to take place in Deadwood. In his later years, the son Badger Clark bemoaned the circumstances that brought brief fame to his father, the Reverend Clark.

"My father's deeds are unnumbered," said Badger, "but such is the irony of human nature; he'll be remembered longest, because he buried Calamity Jane."

Indeed, Reverend Clark did conduct the funeral of Calamity Jane. When Calamity's body was returned to Deadwood from the little town of Terry, several of the old-timers who knew her asked Reverend Clark if he would go down to the city hall and say a few words over her coffin. Reverend Clark responded, "...city hall is no place for anyone to be buried from – not even a sinner like Calamity Jane. Bring her to the Methodist Church and we'll give her a real funeral."

In 1901 Reverend Clark remarried and Rachel Anna Morris became the second Mrs. Charles Clark. Nowhere have I found that Charles Jr. ever referred to her as his stepmother, she was always, Mother. Anna Clark and young Charles developed a strong mother-son relationship and it was she who encouraged his later writing and public speaking and always listened to his sometimes-outlandish ideas.

In 1902 Charles Jr. graduated from Deadwood high school. Not one among the top students, Charles had no real notion of the direction his life should take. During the summers of his high school years he had spent a good deal of time at his uncles ranch in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming. Charles loved the outdoors and relished the fresh air and wide-open spaces but was uncertain as to how he could turn that toward making a living. He was certain that he wanted a job with no boss and the freedom to do as he pleased without responsibility and yet earn a living.

With no other prospects Charles enrolled in fall classes at Dakota Wesleyan University in his second hometown of Mitchell, South Dakota. He freely admitted that he was not much of a scholar and formal education did not suit him. Whatever the reasons Charles did not return for a second term. Several possible explanations have been cause for speculation. The University forbade smoking and Charles was already a heavy smoker. Perhaps also poor grades may have entered the equation and Charles himself related the faculty's displeasure over an incident involving a goat being turned loose in the University building.

In 1903 Charles joined a group of adventurers who planned to colonize Cuba. The venture proved to be a failure and most of the group returned to America. Charles decided to stay behind and live the life of adventurer and vagabond. He worked briefly on a Cuban plantation until he became involved in a case of being at the wrong place at the right time and was arrested for assault with a weapon. Although a false charge, the circumstances resulted in an overly long jail term. This was not the kind of adventure Charles was looking for and though he loved the country and the people he returned to South Dakota in 1905.

Resigned to a normal life, Badger (he took his middle name to avoid confusion with his father) settled in to a normal job with the Lead, Dakota newspaper, became engaged to his longtime sweetheart and braced himself for a normal future. However, all that was about to change. In 1906 Badger Clark was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The disease that had killed his brother and his mother now threatened his own life. Doctors advised the high, dry dessert of southern Arizona and Badger left normal behind.

Near Tombstone, Arizona twenty-three year old Badger Clark met Bob Axtel, foreman on the Cross I Quarter Circle ranch. After Badger told his story Axtel introduced him to the boss and Badger soon found himself in a line shack on the high desert, watching a small herd of cattle and rubbing shoulders with Arizona cowboys. The people, the land and the lifestyle suited Badger and he found the words to express all of them in what has long been regarded as the best cowboy poetry ever written. In fact that could be expanded to say some of the best poetry of any kind to have ever been written.

Named Poet Laureate of South Dakota in 1937, Badger spent the remainder of his life from 1910 until his death in 1957 in the Black Hills of South Dakota. With his mother's encouragement and support, Badger made his living writing poetry and public speaking. It was a job that he loved and gave him all the freedom he needed, made him his own boss and required very little responsibility.

(Writers note: I have been selected by the South Dakota Humanities Council to portray Charles Badger Clark in a program where I will recreate his role as Poet Laureate and public speaker. I am looking forward to telling his personal story and sharing some of the best western poetry ever written.)

M. Timothy Nolting is an award winning Nebraska columnist and freelance writer. To contact Tim email; [email protected]